December 16, 2011

Where to take your Drawing Next? by Sandra Cowper

It’s good to be back from splendid isolation into the warm welcoming circle of the life drawing group and I am so glad I made it as it is the last one in 2011 and we do not meet again until Jan 2012. That really would have been too much deprivation for me as I need my regular life drawing fix to maintain my equilibrium.

It’s only been three weeks since I was last here but in that short time I find that doubts had started to creep in so I tried to carry on from where I thought I’d left off.

I have been working on these gouache and pastel drawings using some good quality grey card for several sessions now. After this week’s session I realised that though the drawings are very lively I do not feel there is any progression in the direction I would like and because each work was done in isolation of the others it consequently felt like I was going back to the beginning with each new drawing. There is a need to explore the properties of the materials used. For instance the gouache is acrylic and not traditional and once dry it does not re wet, dissolve and flow as it otherwise might or give much opportunity for less controlled and more accidental effects so I may need to invest in some more traditional (more expensive) gouache. Also I do not prime the card therefore it is quite absorbent which affects the flow of paint and affects the way the pastel reacts to the surface texture, another aspect worth investigating.

I think it may be worth my taking the time to study this latest set of drawings together to see what works, what could be developed further and what other processes can be incorporated. Usually I feel nothing works like just keeping on doing it but there are times when serious contemplation is necessary.

Once I have considered all the previous drawings then I also like Tom’s idea of using previous life drawings to paint over the top of thus giving the drawing a different dimension, vestiges of the previous incarnation and marks that almost appear independently of thought.

Is this in any way helpful to some of my fellow lifers as I often hear people say they do not know where to take their drawing next?

I have looked at the work over the last few weeks and everyone is very much developing their own unique style and getting to know their materials.

Two hours is really a short time to accomplish a worthwhile drawing but that is spectacularly what everyone does every week and I look forward to seeing it all happen again in the New Year.

December 10, 2011

I've always loved Julie Mehretu's work but this large painting, 'Mural' commisioned by Goldman Sachs in 2009 just leaves me speechless. Others might disagree but for me, it's just one of the most wonderful things I've seen in a long time..............!

As the season of present giving draws ever closer and you are at your wit's end to find that special something for your loved one, look no further.

A Life Drawing Gift Certificate

is the ideal gift, imagine the look of delight as they recieve this unique present.

Don't delay, open the image above, save it and then print out - it's that easy!

Happy Christmas

The Gift Certificate can be purchased by payment at any Life Drawing session. The recipient of the certificate can use the certificate at any Life Drawing session provided the certificate is paid for in advance or on presentation of the certificate. Any further questions please contact Tom or Tony. Original idea by Anne Hutchison.

Roger, our splendid model sensibly brought his own heater, a big bulky functional thing that nevertheless did the job, keeping Roger warm and toasty whilst the rest of us gently shivered. It got me thinking about form and function, how the form we choose affects our function. If the paper or card is big we somehow feel impelled to be bold and confident in our gestures and the inverse is true, a small surface suggests a different relationship, something more intimate, cautious, sensitive even. Large is fast, extravagant, decisive, it's standing room only, picture as battlefield. Smaller scale almost invariably means sitting and peering, the overall picture subsumed within the intricacy of detail but each rule has its exceptions. Steven and Peter seem to me to be Daschunds determined to be Alsatians, physically small paintings with big ambitions. Peter softened his palette to good effect whilst Steven hit the nail on the head with a very fine painting. It's made of nuanced colour built on solid observation avoiding any hint of caricature or exaggeration, a little gem. Roger is a walking caricature, everything is overstated, look at the tendons and muscles in the neck, the pronounced definition of the shoulder girdle, it's all asking to be drawn in an emphatic and decisive way. The miracle is when someone can see beyond that to the person beneath as does Roger H in his lovely sensitive drawing of an old man filled with warmth and strength. I worked next to Roger and had the pleasure of seeing the drawing develop and what struck me was how the form grew from the triangle of eyes and nose to eventually become a well formed head. I was always taught to establish the general form by initially working across the whole drawing but Roger another rule breaker was having none of it. He slowly knitted his way across the drawing joining each piece together until lo and behold there was Roger, I think our wunderkind Kate does something similar as does Neil.

Roger S is a big picture guy, another fine swaggering watercolour (not two words you usually put together), he's the John Wayne of watercolour, a real gunslinger of a painter, master of the splash and dash school. I love these big paintings he's doing, I think collectively they will have tremendous impact. Yvonne has some lovely touches in her large pastel drawing especially when the forms seem to dissolve as in the hand and face, Zoe made her debut with two strong works, big, bold and assured they demonstrated real confidence and skill. Russell gets the 'Background Inclusion Award' (collect your free chocolate biscuit next week) in a finely balanced composition, the neck and jaw are particularly well observed and expressed. Steve continues to find success with his penchant for profiles as does Ivan giving Roger a certain pixiesque twinkle along the way, Sue goes for the jutting chin determined look, (Roger does have a pronounced chin which from certain angles can look odd) and I resorted to my lucky yellow pastel and discovered a very nice blue that may well make a few more appearances in the next few weeks.

December 03, 2011

LOST AND FOUND by Russell Lumb

One of America’s rare improvements upon the original English – Lost Property – has a comfortable, soft ring to me; not a desolate pause before oblivion but a brief resting place where mislaid possessions are reunited with their tearful owners. A scene frozen in time by Norman Rockwell ?

The key to the more optimistic feeling is the hope expressed in the word “found”, and, yesterday I had to keep reminding myself that I would eventually find the painting of Sue which I had mislaid somewhere between lunch and afternoon tea, provided that I continued to search diligently. My Thursday afternoon sessions with Tom have taught me that no disappointing beginnings are beyond recovery, and so I continued to apply paint , not realising that I was further obscuring the answer. As the boiling of the kettles was announced, I scraped away most of the face and was tearfully reunited with the portrait beneath. The “finished” work is no likeness of Sue, an admission that would normally disappoint me, but it has qualities which are new to me, indicating progress beyond my current level of comfort. I had felt the need to move forward again, after a series of increasingly confident but poorly-finished life paintings and I think that I see signs in this work of more skill in applying the paint, although not necessarily in the right places. Pain and gain.

The other thought occupying my mind yesterday was perception, triggered by Tom’s news of his grandson Gabriel. When my grandson was born, almost exactly three years ago, I was very keen for him to be called Gabriel, but his Yankee mother insisted on Anthony John, the former not a favourite of mine (sorry Tony). He is now known to all as AJ, but how quickly and absolutely does the little person overtake his or her name! In art, however, the perception of a piece of work is so individual and guarded that we can rarely rely on peer comment to assist in an objective analysis; I rely on Tom for the unpalatable truth where I only suspect failing. This arrangement works because there is a clear demarcation of professional and amateur. Within the life group, nobody wants to give or receive really bad news and so perception is not accurately broadcast. Probably a wise cultural inhibition.

Around the studio, wisely keeping their opinions to themselves, the group battled the dramatically changing lighting, with Chris M‘s trademark, cellar-dark painting curtailed by ironic floodlight at the close. Otherwise, the scene was well set for inspirational work; a top class model adopting a lovely compact pose and another of Tom’s African print backdrops. Surprisingly, my perception is that this is not one of the best galleries. Perhaps others struggled as I did, although Martin’s monochrome Bratby, Tony’s strong graphic composition and Tom’s Puckish demonstration of descriptive painting deserve a mention. The rest of us will do better.

December 02, 2011

The Reticent Blogger by Tony Noble

After a really enjoyable evening of life drawing yesterday I went home looking forward to the rest of my Thursday routine - a chat with Jackie about her day, a cuddle of the old cat (that's a real cat, not some shrouded metaphor), look out for any promising e-mails, read the latest in the Batley News and then Question Time before bed. All went well until Question Time. With all the big problems we have to face in life today guess what the panel were talking about first? The euro crisis? No. Unemployment? No. Public service pensions? No. They opened with what seemed like an interminable discussion about the big, stupid, fat-headed moron who trades under the name Jeremy Clarkson! I can't believe I'm wasting words potentially re-fuelling the fire, but what does it say about our sensibility when this is the sort of crap we concern ourselves with? Apparently he's in China now, just in case you were wondering! Thank goodness for life drawing!

The usual suspects reassembled with our model Kay who really made me smile when she arrived. Almost running into the studio, determined to be on time she said, "right, I'll get my clothes off and we'll get started". And they say that romance is dead! Kay is another great model. What makes her really easy to work with is that she actually seems to enjoy it, and always takes a great interest in the work. I had a good look around the room at half time and saw some great beginnings. Dick was out of the blocks in a flash with a lovely painting which had a distinct blue tinge to it, giving it a cold, almost sinister edge that made me think of Sickert. Roger S made a great start to a trademark fluid watercolour. New girl Kate made another lovely tonal drawing showing once again what a good eye she has. Similarly, Patrick made a lovely charcoal study which combined high resolution with quite a small scale - a difficult combination to pull off with charcoal. Have a look at the posted images and chip into the blog with your comment.

Getting up this morning I planned to get this written early and then go down to the studio, calling at the market on my way. Once the computer was on I checked my e-mail and, for once, GOOD NEWS!! A message from Tom announced the safe arrival yesterday evening of his daughter Laura's first child, Tom and Elaine's first grandchild, a little boy, Gabriel Thomas. Many congratulations to everyone in the Wood household and to Naz, Laura's husband. Since Gabriel Thomas was born at 11 minutes past 8, whilst we were all focussed on Kay, I think Laura definitely takes this week's gold medal for creation of the evening. But remember Laura, you don't need to cover him in hairspray and put him in a drawer before you go home! Congratulations and well done!